The Sexual Revolution and Teen Dating Trends
is Explored in ASA’s Magazine, Contexts

The consensus of the mass media seems to be that, with apparent
decreasing sexual activity, a new teenage conservatism is emerging.
Sophisticated academic studies are substantiating these assumptions.
But, is the sexual revolution really over? Are teens returning to
conservative sexual values? Are we witnessing the end of sexual
liberalism and a new trend toward virginity before marriage?

Barbara Risman, North Carolina State University, and Pepper
Schwartz, University of Washington, reexamine assumptions as well as
data reflecting the alleged end of the sexual revolution among
teenagers in the article “After the Sexual Revolution: Gender Politics
in Teen Dating” in Contexts, the newest journal of the American Sociological Association.

Studies show that a smaller proportion of youth between the ages of
15 and 17 are sexually active. Between 1991 and 1997, teenagers
reporting having sexual intercourse dropped 5.7 percent, and the teen
pregnancy rate was down 14 percent. Risman and Schwartz found that,
while the data show declining sexual activity, claims of a sexual
conservatism among teens is somewhat exaggerated if not misinterpreted.
Several rigorous studies indicate that the number of high school
boys—but not girls—under 18 who remained virgins dramatically
increased. Sexual activity of white and Hispanic females has remained
generally stable while black females reduced their rates of sexual
activity more sharply, moving toward levels comparable to that of white
and Hispanic girls. The authors speculate that cultural norms for
females have dramatically changed, giving them greater influence or
control within a relationship.

Risman and Schwartz believe that there is no counterrevolution, but
instead the sexual revolution was such a success that it has revised
the framework of how American society thinks about sex. It redefined
sexual activity as a right of individuals and not merely as a means for
reproduction or even marital intimacy. Teenagers living in this culture
are struggling to create new norms that work for them in the 21st
century.

About the American Sociological AssociationThe American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org),
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